Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Textual records
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
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Level of description
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1991-1992, 2002 (Creation)
- Creator
- Communist Party of Canada
Physical description area
Physical description
13 cm of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
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Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Founded in Ontario in 1921, the Communist Party of Canada is one of two federally registered Communist parties in Canada, the other being the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), an anti-revisionist Maoist party. Though without elected federal or provincial representation at present, the CPC is active in trade unions, the civic reform movement, and a number of social justice, anti-war and international solidarity groups and coalitions. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the party was thrown into crisis. The CPC leadership and a segment of its general membership began to abandon Marxism-Leninism as the basis of the Party's revolutionary perspective, and ultimately moved to liquidate the Party itself, seeking to replace it with a left, social democratic entity. The protracted ideological and political crisis created much confusion and disorientation within the ranks of the Party for over two years. Ultimately, the majority in the Central Committee (CC) led by Maurice Hewison of the party voted to abandon Marxism-Leninism. An orthodox minority in the CC resisted this effort. Provincial conventions were held in 1991 in British Columbia and Ontario. At the B.C. convention, delegates threw out one of the main leaders of the Hewison group. A few months later, Ontario delegates rejected a concerted campaign by Hewison and his supporters, and overwhelmingly supporters of the Marxist-Leninist current to the Ontario Committee and Executive. The Hewison group moved on August 27, 1991 to expel eleven of the key leaders of the opposition and also dismissed the Ontario provincial committee. The expelled members threatened to take the Hewison group to court. After several months of negotiations , an out-of-court settlement resulted in the Hewison leadership agreeing to leave the CPC and relinquish any claim to the party's name, while taking most of the party's assets to the Cecil-Ross Society, a publishing and educational foundation previously associated with the party. Following their departure a convention was held in December 1992 at which delegates agreed to continue the Communist Party. The renovated party, now with fewer than 1,000 members, was smaller than before the split and had lost a number of assets. It was not in a position to run fifty (50) candidates in the 1993 federal election, the number required to maintain official party status. As a result, the CPC was deregistered by Elections Canada, and its remaining assets were seized by the government. A prolonged legal battle ensued, resulting in a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2003 that overturned a provision in the Elections Act requiring fifty candidates for official party status.
Custodial history
Obtained from Bill Vander of New Westminster in 2001.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of naterial relating to the end of the Communist Party of Canada; includes newspapers, correspondence, legal documents; ephemera.
Notes area
Physical condition
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Language of material
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Finding aids
Printed inventory available.
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
Alpha-numeric designations
BCAUL control number: SFL--2372
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Communist Party of Canada (Subject)
Genre access points
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Description record identifier
Institution identifier
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Rules for Archival Description
Status
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Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created May 13, 2014, LZ
Language of description
- English